Apparatus for humidifying inking mechanism of printing presses



1941- P. A. FRAZIER 2,229,067

APPARATUS FOR HUMIDIFYING INKING' MECHANISM OF PRINTING PRESSES Filed001;. 28, 1937 tented Jan. 21, 1941 f APPARATUS FOR HUMIDIFYING INKINGMECHANISM OF PRINTING PBESSES Philip A. Frazier, Oak Park, Ill.application October 28, 1937, Serial No. 171,527

4 Claims. 4 (Cl. 101-343) The present invention relates to printing andmore particularly letterpress printing and may be employed upon flat-bedor rotary presses.

The invention relates to apparatus for supply-.. W ing proper andsufficient moisture in the form of finely divided particles. to printingink just prior to the time the printing ink is'applied to the surface tobe printed. The apparatus may be satlsiactorlly employed in practicingthe method disld closed in my copending application upon a Method ofprinting, Serial No. 91,095, filed July 1'7, 11.9%, which issued asPatent No. 2,127,955, on August 23, 1938.

ong the objects of the invention are the provision of printing apparatuswhereby clear and more well-defined printing is produced; apparatus forsupplying moisture to the paper to be printed upon at the time the inkis applied to the paper so that the moisture maypenetrate and beabsorbed by the paper fibers to produce a. more accurate impression thanis obtained when the paper is dry. 4

A further object of the invention is the provision of apparatus of thetype described which may be readily constructed and applied to more orless well-known conventional printing presses.

Paper when it is received by the printer is in a substantially drycondition, and various efforts have been made to apply water to thepaper just prior to the printing impression. These efforts have not metwith success, particularly where high speed work is essential. Among thevarious .dculties caused by wetting of the paper are the unevenstretching of the paper which tends to throw out the alignment of thepages and the register of the plates. Furthermore, in web presses wherethe paper web is under considerable tension, wetting the paper tends toweaken it and increases the tendency toward breaking the web.

I have found that the paper may be satisfactorily moistened by applyingmoisture in flnely divided form, as by sprayin to the ink in the pressimmediately prior to the time the ink is applied to the printingsurface. The apparatus here described is particularly satisfactory forcarrying out that method in that the moisture may be applied to the inkrollers or ink bed in such finely divided form. that it has theappearance of afog or a cloud. To obtain satisfactory results it. isessential that the moisture be in very finely divided form as producedby the improved apparatus, inasmuch as it is necessary that the moisturebe evenly and thoroughly distributed upon the surface of the ink rollsor beds, since it is believcd that the water in finely divided form ishill hill

bit

merely mechanically entrapped in the ink. The apparatus may be employedin spraying any ordinary commercial printing inks for letterpressprinting, which are usually made with a. linseed oil varnish basecombined with pigment, driers 5 and small amounts of other ingredients.

When water is sprayed on ink in a body, the oily nature of the latterrepels the water drops and they tend to collect in larger drops indepressions. Accordingly, it is desirable that the moisture be in veryfinely divided form. The condition of the surfaces of the printingrollers in operation is entirely different from that of a quiescent bodyof ink. When two ink rollers or an ink roller and a plane surfaceinteract, the ink adheres to both surfaces and does not separate cleanlyfrom either. The ink surface produced on both is a torn matt'surfacefull of minute roughnesses and hollows. This is due to the viscosity ofthe ink, and the tearing action is so violent at high speeds that an inkmist is produced adjacent the rollers and is a source of frequenttrouble in high speed presses.

Because .of the matt surface which is formed on an ink roller or planesurface such as an ink table or type form, during the operation of apress, a fairly uniform distribution of moisture in the form of finelydivided particles can be maintained on the surfaces during the shortinterval between feeding ink from the ink fountain and offsetting itfrom the type surface to the paper, if the moisture is applied to theink roller or plane surface in a very finely divided spray so as to bethoroughly distributed upon the matt surface. The apparatus hereindisclosed has been found to be very suitable for obtaining that highlydesirable result.

The invention will be readily understood from the following descriptionand the accompanying drawing, in which a preferred embodiment is shown,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a broken side elevation, partly diagrammatic, of printingstructure embodying the invention;

Fig. 2, an enlarged vertical sectional view'of a portion of theapparatus, and

Fig. 3, a sectional view taken along lines 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1 wherein is shown a portion of a conventionalflat-bed press, the delivery, feeder and registering mechanism beingomitted since the present invention does not relate thereto, thereference character 9 indicates the frame of a flat-bed press providedwith a base Ill and a side rail II. The ink-plate l2 of the bed of thepress 65 is reciprocally mounted on rollers in the usual fashion and hassecured thereto plungers or airheads l3. The plungers l3 work incylinders I4 and the plungers may be of the piston ring type or may besealed with leather cups and are employed to cushion the reverse ofdirection of the bed in a manner well known to the art. Usually two ormore air heads l3 are employed at each end of the bed and the cylindersat each end of the bed are connected by an air hose l5. Distributorrollers l8 are mounted ,above the ink plate I2 and are part of aconventional inking mechanism which generally comprises a fountain |'I,ductor rollers l8, distributor rollers i6 and form rollers I8. 1

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3 wherein the improved spraying device, to beemployed with and actuated by a printing press as hereinafter described,is shown, the device comprises generally a water container 28, a nozzle2| and an air supply barrel 22. The water container 28 is mounted mouthdownwardly in an annular chamber 23 having internal threads 24 adaptedto engage the neck of the bottle. The chamber 23 is provided with agasket 25 of cork or other suitable material, against which the end ofthe mouth rests, and a boss 26 extending upwardly into the chamber 23. Awater conduit 21 leads from the chamber 23 through a central portion ofthe boss 26 and extends into a water chamber 28 formed centrally in themetallic body portion 29 of the device. A bleeder-line 30 extends fromthe upper portion of the chamber 28 to the atmosphere. A small waterconduit 3| extends from the lower portion of the chamber 28 through thenozzle 2| and is inclined slightly upwardly from the horizontal.

The barrel 22 is provided with a bore 32 termechanism, a reciprocatingbed, pistons secured minating in an internally threaded portion 33adapted to detachably retain a pet-cock 34 secured to the terminus of anair line 35. The upper end of the barrel 22 is provided with a shoulderportion 38 against which a corresponding ortion of an internallythreaded ring 31 is adapted to bear to hold the barrel 22 firmly againsta depending portion 38 of the body 28. The portion 38 is provided withan air chamber 39 of a diameter slightly greater than the bore 32. Anair line 40 of constricted diameter extends from the upper portion ofthe chamber 39 through the nozzle 2| below the water conduit 3|.

The water duct 3| is equipped with a conically shaped tip 4| adapted tobe screwed into the end of nozzle 2|. The tip 4| has a tapering waterpassage 42 terminating in a small orifice. The nozzle 2| has a flared.portion 43 at its end that is externally screw threaded and adapted toremovably retain cap 44. Cap 44 has a small orifice 45 positionedadjacent to the orifice of tip 4| and is provided with an annulartapering recess forming an air chamber 48 in the nature of a. Venturitube.

In the operation of the device. compressed air passes through the ducts35, 32, 39 and 40, thence through the passage 45 to the tip of thenozzle.

'Water flows by gravity from the chamber 28 through the tube 21 intochamber 28 where, when the device is in operation, it will not riseabove the lower level of the tube 21. The vent 30 prevents pressure inthe chamber 28 from exceeding that of the atmosphere. The 'water movesfrom the chamber 28 through the duct 3| into the outlet 42 of the tubeand is drawn from the orifice of the tip in finely divided form. At theorifice 45 of the cap 44 the water is further atomized by the air andemerges from the orifice in the form of a fog or cloud.

As shown in Fig. 1, the device is adapted to be removably mounted uponthe rail H or any other convenient portion of a printing press by meansof a bracket 41 secured to the barrel 22 of the'"device. The improvedspraying device is shown positioned to spray the distributor rolls ofthe press, but it is to be understood that the device may be positionedto spray the inking plate l2, the surface of the fountain l1, .the formr011- ers l8 or the ductor rollers l8, and that preferably one or moreof the devices are positioned on each side of the press, particularly inpresses employing a wide bed, in order that the entire length of therollers may be humidified with the fog produced by the device. Thepressure built up intermittently by the plungers |3 in cylinders I4 issuitable for operating the spraying device, and the air hose 35 of thedevice may be tapped direotly into the cylinder [4 or, as shown in Fig.1, into the line l connecting the air-headsu The improved sprayingdevice may be advantageously employed with rotary presses, and thepressure to operate the device may be obtained from an air line of thepress or, if such is not convenient, a small compressor adapted toproduce pressures of ten pounds may be employed.

The apparatus described may be employed for spraying printing rollerswith a mixture of glycerine and water to condition the rollers as wellas spraying with water alone, as previously described.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with printing structure of the type describedincluding a frame, inking to said bed and cooperating with stationarycylinders mounted on said frame to produce an air pressure; a devicemounted upon said structure adapted to supply liquid in finely dividedform comprising a body portion, a nozzle, a source of liquid, a liquidduct leading from said source through said body portion and said nozzle,an air duct extending through said body portion and nozzle, a cap onsaid nozzle having an orifice adjacent to said inking mechanism, and anair line connected to said air duct and said cylinders adapted to supplyair under pressure to force liquid in finely divided form from saidorifice.

2. Printing structure of the type described including a frame, inkingmechanism, a bed reciprocally mounted in said frame, air-heads securedto said bed and stationary cylinders mounted on said frame to receivesaid reciprocating airheads, and means detachably carried on said framefor supplying liquid in finely divided form to said inking mechanismcomprising a nozzle, a source of liquid, a liquid duct leading throughsaid nozzle, an air duct extending through said nozzle, a cap on saidnozzle having a small orifice and an air supply line connecting saidcylinders and said air duct and adapted to supply air under pressureproduced in said cylinders.

3. Printing structure of the type described including a frame, inkingmechanism, a bed reciprocally mounted in said frame, stationarycylinders at each end of said frame, pistons secured to said bed andreciprocating in said cylinders adapted to produce an air pressure, andmeans mounted on said frame for supplying liquid in finely divided formto said inking mechanism lid disposed above said body portion, a liquidduet leading from said source through said body.

portion and nozzle, an air. duct extending through said body portion andnozzle, 9. cap removably secured on said nozzle having a small annularorifice, and an air supply line connecting said cylinders and said airduct adapted to supply compressed air to force liquid in very finelyclivided form from said orifice.

4. Printing structure of the type described including aframe', inkingmechanism, a bed reciprocally mounted in said frame, pistons securedto'said bed, cylinders at each end oi said frame housing saidreciprocating pistons adapted to produce an air pressure in saidcylinders, and means detaohabiy mounted on said frame for supplyingliquid in finely divided form to said inking mechanism, comprising abody portion, a nozzle forming one end of said body portion and providedwith a small orifice, a source of liquid supply, a liquid duct leadingthrough said body portion to said nozzle, an air duct extending throughsaid body portion to said nozzle, and an air supply line connecting saidcylinders and said air duct.

PHILIP A. FRAZIER.

